Twitter Is Testing New Feature That Lets Users Flag Misleading Tweets

Twitter on Tuesday announced that some users will have the option to report misleading tweets to combat widespread misinformation. However, this option is currently available in the US, South Korea, and Australia.

The new reporting structure is an attempt to reduce misinformation on the platform. Likewise, users will be able to report tweets they believe are misleading in terms of political or health information or are generally inaccurate.

However, this is not the first step the social media platform has taken to combat misinformation. Earlier in January, the company launched a fact-checking system called Birdwatch. This allows users to write notes and provide more information when reporting tweets. However, the reporting system exists and works through a separate website.

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In a recent test, users were able to use the 3-dot contextual menu to use the “report a tweet” option. There, the user will see a new 'misleading' category which further prompts the user to choose from "politics," "health," or "something else." Additionally, if they vote for "politics" or "health", they can determine whether the tweet refers to the election or COVID-19. Therefore, it is a well-designed approach.

Can Twitter Benefit from this Reporting System?

In light of recent events, it is only necessary to stop the widespread misinformation on social media. Twitter is quite popular and tops the list when it comes to sharing information and news. While recent events in Afghanistan and the pandemic have exacerbated the situation, Twitter's initiatives can be beneficial.

Twitter said: “We’re assessing if this is an effective approach, so we’re starting small. We may not take action and cannot respond to each report in the experiment, but your input will help us identify trends so that we can improve the speed and scale of our broader misinformation work.” This gives us a hint that the company isn't worried about abusing the feature for now because they started small. Also, misleading tweets are reported from the current report moderation system itself.

It also appears that social media platforms are looking at ways to prioritize actual tweets that contain misinformation and get rid of them as soon as possible. Twitter will sort out reported tweets using automatic moderation and give them a priority.

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In conclusion, the amount of misinformation on the internet is increasing day by day, and Twitter has an important role to play. Therefore, Twitter's ambition to fight the same is commendable. The company has taken various steps and rolled out features to control fake news and information as much as possible. This new feature should roll out to all Twitter users soon as long as it works.

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